World of Martial Arts Show

BUDO & BANTER Steve Rowe

Steve Rowe talks to Mick Tully about his life, training, and teaching

Steve Rowe is a well respected martial arts teacher based in the UK. His

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LEGEND OF THE WHITE DRAGON Mark Dacascos

Review by Anders Bjorn Torbjorn, World of Martial Arts Television resident Viking

Some men are born to rule. Others are forged in battle. And some poor bastards discover that even a hero can wake up one morning with the whole world wanting his head.

Listen closely, for I have seen the heart that lies beneath the shining armour of Legend of the White Dragon, and it is a heart worthy of any Viking saga told beside a dying fire.

Directed by Aaron Schoenke and Sean Schoenke, this superhero adventure stars Jason David Frank as Erik Reed, a fallen hero struggling to reclaim his life, with Mark Dacascos bringing his formidable martial arts credentials to the picture. This is no simple tale of a warrior slaying a dragon and returning home to a warm hearth. No. This is a tale of a man hunted by his past, trapped in the machinery of a world that has turned against him.

And in my experience, friend, the world is a far crueller beast than any dragon.

Erik Reed is a man whose former glory has turned to ash. Once celebrated, he now finds himself blamed for catastrophe, pursued by enemies and forced to confront the consequences of his previous life. The city becomes his frozen northern wilderness, its streets a battlefield of suspicion, betrayal and desperation.

There is something deliciously noir about this predicament. The hero is no longer the shining knight riding towards the sunrise. He is the hunted man stumbling through the shadows, wondering whether justice is merely another word invented by those who hold the swords.

The film's central idea has the makings of a powerful modern saga: what happens when the man beneath the mask becomes more important than the symbol he represents?

For a Viking, this is familiar territory. Reputation is everything until the moment it becomes a noose around your neck.

Then there is Mark Dacascos.

Here is a performer who understands that action cinema is not merely a collection of men throwing punches at one another. There must be rhythm, precision and the unmistakable impression that the combatants know precisely how dangerous they are.

Dacascos brings the credibility of a genuine martial arts screen veteran to the picture. His presence carries the promise of physical intensity, the kind that makes a fight feel like a personal reckoning rather than a rehearsal conducted for the cameras.

Yet Legend of the White Dragon is not simply a showcase for martial arts. Its ambitions lie in the troubled psychology of the fallen hero, the burden of responsibility and the possibility of redemption.

The challenge is balancing these elements. Superhero mythology demands spectacle; noir demands moral ambiguity. One wants the heavens illuminated by lightning, while the other prefers a solitary figure beneath a streetlamp, contemplating his sins.

When those two traditions collide, the results can be compelling.

The White Dragon's journey belongs to that ancient tradition of warriors who must first defeat themselves before they can confront their enemies.

The costume and superhero mythology provide the modern armour, but beneath it lies an older question: can a man who has fallen from grace ever become worthy again?

This is where the picture's strongest ideas reside. The enemies outside the hero's skin may be formidable, but guilt, public disgrace and the loss of identity are nastier opponents still.

The film's independent-production roots are evident in its ambitions and execution. It may not possess the limitless resources of a major studio superhero epic, but its appeal rests in the personal investment behind its creation and the enthusiasm of its action performers.

Legend of the White Dragon offers an intriguing mixture of superhero adventure, martial arts action and the darker mythology of the disgraced warrior. Mark Dacascos adds welcome fighting pedigree to a story concerned with the cost of heroism, while Jason David Frank's Erik Reed embodies the struggle to rise after a devastating fall.

The night is long. The enemies are many. The past waits patiently in the shadows.

Watch it and know,

A true warrior does not need the world to believe in him. He needs only the strength to rise when the world has finished knocking him down.

A HERO WALKING THROUGH HELLMARK DACASCOS: A WARRIOR WHO KNOWS THE LANGUAGE OF PAINMASKS, MONSTERS AND THE PRICE OF REDEMPTIONTHE FINAL VERDICTSkål!

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FIGHTING BLIND MMA Taekwondo Chris Telesford

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ZULU DAWN UHD/ Blu-Ray UNBOXING

Andrew Staton unboxes the Blu-Ray of ZULU DAWN and finds the GOOD STUFF inside;

Andrew Staton unboxes the Blu-Ray of ZULU DAWN and finds the GOOD STUFF

Andrew Staton unboxes the Blu-Ray of ZULU DAWN and finds the GOOD STUFF

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Main site - https://www.worldofmartialarts.tv

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KNIGHTFALL: BOND WITHOUT THE BENTLEY Geoffrey Moore

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KNIGHTFALL Movie Interview Action Star Jeanine Nerissa Sothcott

Jeanine Nerissa Sothcott talks to Andrew Staton about her latest film KNIGHTFALL.

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KICKBOXER QUEEN OF JKD Rochelle Ashana

The Martial Arts Actress Who Shared the Screen with Jean-Claude Van Damme

Rochelle Ashana, fresh from filming in Cannes, France, and attending the

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CULT MARTIAL ARTS & HORROR FILM MAKER

Dean Meadows: Fighting His Way Through British Cult Cinema

Cult film director Dean Meadows talks to Andrew Staton about his latest productions and being mistaken for Jason Statham and Bruce Willis all while creating some of the most standout films of the independent movie industry.

Dean Meadows' approach to filmmaking doesn't hang around. His movies are built around action, martial arts, horror, exploitation and the kind of larger-than-life genre storytelling that has traditionally thrived outside the Hollywood mainstream. A writer, director, producer, editor and cult-film historian, Meadows has carved out a distinctive position in British independent cinema through Pentagram Pictures, creating films that wear their martial arts and genre influences firmly on their sleeves.

His first feature, Scarlett Cross: Agents of D.E.A.T.H., announced exactly what audiences could expect. Released in 2022, the film follows a collection of deadly female assassins and the mysterious Scarlett Cross, combining action, thriller and exploitation elements. Meadows wrote, directed and produced the picture, which subsequently enjoyed an impressive international festival run, including 19 festival selections and 11 awards and five honourable mentions according to Pentagram Pictures. At New York's Urban Action Showcase, the film picked up the Best Weapons Sequence award.

For Meadows, however, the martial arts content was never intended simply as decoration; he explained that he wanted the fight sequences to avoid simply copying the familiar Hong Kong action formula. Instead, the choreography was designed to be hard-hitting and gritty, drawing influences from both old-school martial arts cinema and the more visceral violence of contemporary action and horror.

That attitude is revealing. Meadows clearly understands that martial arts movie audiences have seen the tricks before. His objective is not simply to reproduce the genre but to throw different influences into the ring and see what survives.

His fascination with martial arts cinema also extends into his documentary and interview work. Through his association with World of Martial Arts Television, Meadows has filmed interviews with some of the most significant figures in martial arts and action cinema. One particularly heavyweight assignment involved legendary kickboxer, martial artist and screen performer Benny “The Jet” Urquidez. Meadows filmed an interview with Urquidez at the UK Martial Arts Show, discussing the fighter's remarkable career and his work alongside figures including Jackie Chan, Patrick Swayze, John Cusack and Shannon Lee.

For anyone raised on the martial arts films of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, that is serious territory. Urquidez represents the bridge between genuine combat sports and movie mythology — precisely the territory in which Meadows operates.

Then came Dracula: Rise of the Vampire, released in 2025. On paper, it sounds like a radical departure: Dracula, satanic cults, vampires and horror. But Meadows again found a way to bring martial arts and action into the equation. He wrote and directed the film, produced it and starred as disgraced detective Gabriel Lee. Crucially, he also served as the martial arts and stunt coordinator.

The result is a film that deliberately refuses to sit comfortably inside a single genre. Horror, action, comedy, martial arts and drama are thrown together in the same cinematic blender — something Meadows himself described when discussing the film's appearance at Horror-on-Sea.

There is also a clear affection for British genre traditions behind the project. Dracula: Rise of the Vampire has been described as a modern British horror film paying homage to the Hammer tradition, while Meadows' broader filmmaking philosophy is influenced by independent movie legends such as Roger Corman, Larry Cohen and Menahem Golan.

That tells you plenty about Meadows. He is not attempting to make safe, committee-designed cinema. He comes from the school where filmmakers had to be resourceful, audiences had to be grabbed quickly and every punch, monster and explosion had to earn its place on screen.

His next action project, Death Machine, pushes that philosophy even further. Meadows is writing, directing, producing and starring as assassin Matt Harper, a professional killer attempting to escape his violent past before being dragged into one final assignment involving an international army of assassins. The film is currently listed as in production for a 2027 UK release.

Taken together, Meadows' work reveals a filmmaker with a particular affection for physical storytelling. His characters fight, bleed, run, shoot and survive. His films are populated by assassins, martial artists, vampires and people who generally have very bad days.

But beneath the blood and bruises is something more traditional: a genuine love of genre cinema.

From Scarlett Cross to Dracula, from independent action filmmaking to sitting across a camera from Benny “The Jet” Urquidez, Dean Meadows is continuing a tradition that martial arts fans understand instinctively — make it physical, make it memorable and, above all, make it your own.

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MEXICALI Director Q&A Luke LaFontaine Part 1

Fighting Spirit Film Festival celebrates martial arts cinema as entertainment and inspiration, promotes martial arts culture, and recognises, connects, and supports those who have chosen it as a career.

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Frank and James Pauli: Martial Arts, Music and a Life of Discipline

Frank and James Pauli represent a fascinating crossover between two

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